Quake III: Team Arena

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We get hands-on with the team-based expansion pack for Q3. So how is it? Find out inside...

By IGN Staff

Monday afternoon I packed my bags and left cold, dreary San Francisco for hot, sunny Dallas, Texas. Unfortunately, it turns out Dallas is even colder and drearier this time of year than the City by the Bay...about 50 degrees cooler, with a lot more snow and ice falling out of the sky to boot. "So, idiot, why did you leave the comfort of home to freeze your ass off in Texas where the wind chill is minus three and there's an inch of freezing rain on the ground?," you may be asking. To be the first person outside of id to play the final version of Quake III: Team Arena, of course!

Located in Mesquite, Texas, just east of Dallas, the office building that houses id Software is about as plain as they come. I don't know what I was expecting....maybe a fleet of Ferraris out front, a high-rise shaped like the Quake symbol perchance, or perhaps a roaming fleet of limos with the designers chilling with David Lee Roth and a bevy of babes in one of those hot tubs in the trunk. Everyone has to set up shop somewhere, but it's hard to imagine that one of the most well known and successful FPS developers in the world would be housed in an unadorned, simple square building located across the street from the likes of Hooters, Chili's, and The Olive Garden, which to me is a testament that id is a dedicated group of game designers rather than rockstar wannabes.

As I walked through the unassuming office door I was met by Miss Donna herself, the office manager and official "id Mom," whose thick Texas drawl was an inviting, hospitable sound to this Southern boy. The office itself is much like the building, quite basic and bare except for a trophy case of id memorabilia including numerous awards, boxes of id's classic library (Quake, Wolfenstein 3D, and Aliens Ate My Babysitter to name a few), and trinkets like a Commander Keen watch and the original toy shotgun scanned and modeled for Doom. Magazine articles and game posters lined the walls of the small office, complete with pictures of former id employees like John Romero and American McGee. After taking a quick tour of id's home, I was surprised at how small the id team was, with only a dozen or so core folks working on the development side.

Enough with the exposition, let's get on to why you really clicked on this story in the first place -- to read about Quake III: Team Arena. The first thing Director of Business Development Marty Stratton pointed out when he loaded up the game was the first thing you'll see: the new user interface. The enhanced UI is simple to use, and much more functional than the Quake III user interface. "We wanted to give the players more options and, although the old UI was simple, it was too simple -- it was far too limited," explained Marty about id's decision to totally redesign the interface. "If you wanted to give an order, most of the time you had to pull up the console and type the commands. You couldn't communicate effectively with the bots, you couldn't communicate effectively with your teammates, and that was kind of the driving force behind this redesign."

One of the slickest new features is the addition of a small video preview of each level, which you're probably familiar with if you've already played the demo. The videos will show you points of interest in each level, like choice railgun platforms or perhaps where the BFG is hidden, and they allow you to see a bit of each level before actually jumping in the game.

All of the new additions in the UI is a scripting language that will be fully supported by id, and programmer Robert Duffy is already working on full documentation for the mod community to do things with the UI, like the custom level videos, to make getting into their mods just as easy as the levels designed by the id team itself.

While the UI has gotten a big boost in TA, gameplay is where the bulk of the changes lie. Dan's already laid out the new game types you can expect to find in Team Arena, so I won't go into each of them again, but needless to say, the team strategies in TA is really where the new title shines. Team Arena features eight new regular scale team maps, four new tournament maps, and three outdoor maps, which are absolutely huge and look beautiful as well, complete with a doubled-layered sky that casts real-time moving shadows on the landscape. While many people doubted the standard Quake III engine would make for good-looking outdoor environments, what I saw at the Team Arena event was certainly impressive, and reminded me of a sharper version of Tribes without jet packs. And because the focus in Team Arena is almost solely on online play, you'll have instant access to all of the new maps from the start in TA, instead of progressing through a tier system the way you did in Quake III.

After the preliminary demonstration, Marty said it was time for a game. Now it was my time to show my skills...the zero hour was at hand! The team assembled to play against, and with me since TA is focused on working as a team, was a formidable collection of id staffers. There I was taking on the likes of programmer Robert Duffy, artist Fred Nilsson, level designer Tim Willits, biz dev guru Marty Stratton, and id CEO Todd Hollenshead (who, as Miss Donna informed me, is a sore loser...so I had better let him win). Was I intimidated? Sure, a little. I mean, who wouldn't be? I've played my fair share of Quake III: Arena, and I've given the Team Arena demo a good bit of my time, but there I was playing with the people most familiar with Team Arena -- the creators.

We decided to start out with a little basic CTF. The first map we loaded up was mpq3tourney6, a small space map with lots of jump pads, and each team within sight of the other team's flag. It was going to be a three-on-three match, so chaos was sure to ensue...and it did. As soon as the match started, bodies (and body parts) were flying around the screen. While you could ride one of the jump pad up to the BFG holding area, if you moved right while you were in the air, you could also land right on the flag, setting yourself up for an easy capture. This strategy worked well for me, as I was able to run eight of 15 flags back to our base to win the game in less than four minutes. Unfortunately, I didn't fare so well in the next game, and was only able to run two flags back. I usually ended up being able to get the flag, but then I'd get sniped by a madly skilled railgunner. If there's one weapon the guy's at id know how to use it's the railgun. Even if I was at full health and they couldn't kill me, the velocity of the blast would send me sailing off the edge of the platform before I could deliver the flag. We're the id guys just taking it easy on me in the first round, or were they just getting warmed up? My team lost the second game, but I decided not to let it bug me too much...heck, I was just getting warmed up myself.

The next game we played was Harvester, my favorite new game type, on a Cathedral level with plenty of jump pads leading to the skull drop-off point and a bridge spanning the central "skull" room. To keep balance between the teams, most of the maps in TA are mirror images of each other with a central area for the skull generator and to house the flag in One Flag CTF. This is where the Scout power-up came in real handy, the added speed allowing me to easily avoid rockets whizzing by my head, which seemed all that more realistic with the addition of a new Doppler effect. I played clean up on this level, picking up skulls and delivering to the enemy drop-off point as fast as I could...when I could get in. Again, the opposing team had some wicked railgun snipers. Several times they would just wait for me to hit a jump pad, get in mid air, and snipe me right before I passed through the skull drop-off...very frustrating. Since there were only three ways into the enemy base, a couple of snipers could cover base pretty well, so we had to coordinate our runs as a team and divert the enemy snipers. The strategy worked pretty well, and we ended up winning the Harvester battle 15 skulls to nine.

Later in the day we loaded up one of the massive outdoor levels and played a little One Flag CTF in the new wintry environment. The map was massive, way too big for the four of us who were still playing, and the score just kept flip-flopping as one team would run the flag back to the base only to have the other team waiting at the flag spawn point. But the new outdoor maps are mighty impressive, and they're going to be perfect for 12 or more players. The environment itself featured numerous railgun positions, slitted defensive bunkers, deep rivers that were great for hiding in and sneaking up on unsuspecting flag runners, and a new feature that I'd never seen before, a safety pad, which allowed you to jump from high on the castle wall and land without taking damage.

Right now it's 4:30 in the morning and I'm stuck in the Dallas/Ft. Worth airport because the runways are covered with ice....so am I sorry I came? Heck no. I'm tired, but getting to play Team Arena all day was certainly worth it. Playing with the folks at id gave me a whole new respect for Quake III. While the new weapons, maps, and skins are a nice addition to Quake III, the real key of the expansion pack are the new game types. This and the team play is really going to add a lot of new strategies into the mix, such as who take what power-up and who takes up a defensive position while the runners go after the booty. The group elements in Team Arena are going to make it a whole new game. It's not just about the singular "you" anymore, and I think clan players are going to get a particular kick out of the expansion pack, which should be available any day now.

-- Tal Blevins

May 11, 2000

E3 2000 Update

What has obviously become one of the most influential and popular series in video game history is adding a new chapter. Well, half a chapter anyway. An expansion pack for Quake III: Arena is on it's way and is the first id developed expansion since way back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth and DOOM was at the height of gaming technology.

As most of you are probably aware, Quake III: Arena was primarily a deathmatch game with a single player game that was pretty much just training for the online side. Not surprisingly, the multiplayer has grown to have one of the most fanatical followings of any game to date, which was exactly what id was going for. With the expansion pack, they are adding one world to the title that defines the game: Team. id isn't changing their philosophy that they are making the best multiplayer first person shooter that they can, they are just adding a new dimension to it.

Seeing a great opportunity in games like Tribes, that also has quite a following to it and is all team based, they are focusing on making levels and games specifically for team play. There are a few neat ideas in the works that prove they aren't just rehashing tried and true ideas. Here are the gameplay types you can expect from Team Arena:

Harvester: One of the neatest games that even peaked Vincent's interest was this one. Every time a player gets fragged, a skull will appear in the center of the map. It is the duty of your team to grab as many of the other team's skulls as possible and transport them back into the center of your opponent's base. If you get killed while the skulls are following you, all of them will disappear and you'll need to collect new ones.

One Flag CTF: You're all familiar with the regular capture the flag. Two flags, one in each team's base and you have to get the other team's and bring it back. This time around, there's One Flag that you have to get. And you don't bring it to your base, but to the enemy's base. They said this game generates lots and lots of kills.

Classic CTF: You know, what I said above.

Overload: This one is pretty interesting. Each team has a base that contains a skull-adorned totem structure. The point of the game is to destroy the other team's totem.

There are also a bunch of new power-ups available for you to grab and make use of. There are four new ones that only one person at a time can have in the game. Once the player that has it gets fragged, then it can be picked up by someone else again. Here's the list:

Doubler: Doubles the power of your weapon. Mass destruction, baby!

Scout: Can't have armor, but you can move real fast and shoot real fast as well. Good for scouting as the name implies, but you can get killed really quick if someone manages to hit you.

Guard: Boosts your health and armor to 200 immediately and health will regenerate by multiples of five up to 200.

Ammo Regen: All of your ammo recharges at a steady rate. If you can find the good weapons, then your set for a long time.

Hey, another list coming up. This time it's of the new weapons:

Nail Gun: Like the shotgun, but slower moving and more powerful. Each nail has its own velocity and trajectory, and each of the nails does 30-35 points of damage, making for a massively damaging weapon if you get in close and hit with all of the nails.

Proximity Mine Launcher: Pretty self-explanatory but one clarification. You won't need to worry about killing your own guys with the mines. They'll be color coded and won't explode when your team comes near.

Chain Gun: You remember this one from Quake II. It kicks the crap outta people, but wastes lots of ammo.

And we have a few other power-ups to tempt your itchy mouse finger as well:

Kamikaze: Get this power-up and activate it and it causes an enormous explosion that will kill everyone in the certain radius. It's really cool looking. There's actually a picture of it below.

Invisibility: I think you can figure this one out for yourself.

Regeneration: Regenerates your health by multiples of five up to a maximum of 200 for 20 seconds.

Invulnerability Shield: You can't move after you activate invulnerability, but it forms a bubble around you that can only be penetrated by prox mines. And yes, the effect after the mine blows you to bits while you're in the bubble is super nasty.

Teleporter: Yes, it was in Quake III: Arena, but the teleport power-up in Team Arena will be required to get to some of the more secret parts of some levels. There's also a cool new animation that looks a bit like going into a wormhole.

All in all, with cool innovative games mixed in with some new weapons and power-ups, plus the great gameplay of Quake III: Arena, this is a pretty good bet at a winner. All of you Quake-heads can rejoice and look forward to some new fun this winter.